New York City mayoral race front-runner Andrew Cuomo was forced to fend off a volley of attacks from his Democratic primary rivals in a debate Wednesday, with his opponents unleashing pent up barbs at the former governor in an attempt to crack his lead.

Cuomo was on the defensive from the opening bell.

From a crowded stage, Cuomo’s opponents swiped at him over the sexual harassment scandal that forced him from the governor’s mansion, his coronavirus response and the federal investigation into whether he lied to Congress about his handling of the pandemic in nursing homes.

At one point, Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist state lawmaker who has emerged as one of the leading candidates in the race, pressed Cuomo on the overlap between the former governor’s political donors and those

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